Silky999

I have a GB Streamliner 900 that I have put some different tubes in. All were sourced off the dreaded eBay and none cost more than £10. V1 - some unbranded 5751 8 shot revolver getter??? V2 - Telefunken ECC83 which has a B at the start of the serial number...Berlin??? V3 - Mullard ECC83 made in Blackburn??? I chose the valves as they were cheap and seemed possibly reasonable manufacturers but I know little to nothing about valves. I wanted a lower gain valve in V1. There seemed to be a lot of talk around long and short ladders, getters and all that malarkey. The amp sounds so different in a good way now, much clearer and less distortion and just tighter sounding. I get that the 5751 is a lower gain valve so hence less grrrr at a higher gain level but why does changing one brand ECC83 to another in V2 and V3 affect the tone? Surely they are much of a muchness but I noticed a real change when I took the standard Ruby out in V2 and put in the Telefunken. Even more pronounced when the Ruby in V3 was swapped for the Mullard. Can someone explain why one ECC83 affects the tone more than another? Is it just a placebo effect?

Portable!? It’s wheelable lol

I run an XR18 for our 4 piece. I looked at the RCF and XR16 but wanted to futureproof. I got mine pre-owned for £250 so couldn’t pass the offer up really. I would like to get an X32 eventually but they are £££ even pre-owned. I have a router permenantly attached and a laptop hardwired to that. I also have a long Ethernet cable so that if we (rarely) have someone to do the sound, they can move the laptop wherever. Do not trust the built in router! I wanted the ability to USB out all the channels as I want to be able to record and mix our own tracks via a laptop. The routing options are immense and being able to set up all the levels and mixes to IEMS at a practice, save them and use at a gig is brilliant. You can just tweak the levels and EQ for different venues and if you play the same venue regularity, there’s the option of saving it as a preset. Downside is also the sheer amount of functionality as there is a steep learning curve as others have said. All the key stuff is done via the laptop and then tweaks to volume can be done on the fly via my phone. It’s all mounted in a small wheeled flight case. I am going to get some ventilated blanking panels to tidy up the flight case and hide wires etc.

Another option may be Ernie Ball Cobalt wrapped flats and round wounds? I’ve got the flats on a couple of basses and love them as they have almost that round wound zing.

What about Tapewounds such as D’addario?

Admin....can you move to repairs and technical please? Posted in wrong forum

I followed Agedhorse’s excellent “how to” to remove the old blue leds and install some new slightly smaller and less bright ones. They were working intermittently so I bit the bullet despite them only serving an aesthetic purpose. It can be done with the PCB in situ with the valves removed. I’d say a solder sucker and some liquid flux is a must to be able to do the job as you are soldering in a very small area and it would be easy to over solder. The PCB clearly shows the + and — holes. I put 3mm 30mA leds in cut to length which are not as bright as the stock but ample for the purpose.

I’ve check the socket and it’s genuine Neutrik from a reputable seller, CPC Farnell. I resoldered the connections and the socket and PCB are lovely and tight now. I don’t think I had the iron hot enough as I was worried about burning the board. It passes the wiggle test now lol

So checked it again today and the sound is cutting out if the speakon cable is wobbled. I know that it shouldn’t happen during a gig but it worries me that it could fail completely. I think that the tangs on the PCB mount speakon are a little too short to get a good solder anchor through the board. I’m going to remove the PCB and use a normal 4 pole speakon as suggested by Downunderwonder. I’ll leave the original plate and other speakon and 1/4 jack socket but they will be unwired. It just means it can’t be used as 2 x 410 which I can’t imagine ever using anyway but could be put back to stock if required. I’m just waiting on some Faston connectors as I don’t want to solder the wires directly to the speakon tangs thanks for all the advice

Thanks, I have mounted a new combo speakon socket to the PCB and everything is working as it should. If I get any more issues, I will pull the lot and just put a normal speakon wired +1 -1 to run all 8 drivers with no stereo option.

Thank you, I also need to change the speakon 1/4 combo socket for the 810 as it will only power all 8 speakers when using 1/4 jack not speakon. It is soldered to a pcb. I’ve ordered the correct sockets for a vertical pcb mount and I’m assuming that I melt the solder on the rear of the pcb to remove the socket then mount the new one and resolder similar to mounting the leds in the GB. I was thinking of removing the options of the pcb and switching to 2 x 410 or 810and just having one speakon socket to power all 8 speakers with one of the speakon 4 pole sockets with the screw terminals for ease. There are 2 wires going to to the pcb from each set of 4 speakers. Obviously + & —. Would I wire both sets of positive to the 1+ and both negatives to 1–, leaving 2+ and 2– unused? Or would I use 1+ and 1– for one set of speakers and 2+ and 2– for the other set?

Thanks chaps, I’ll stick to a single cable. Agedhorse......are you the same person as the font of GB knowledge on another forum? If so I read your post about changing out the leds and your very reasonable service charges. This Streamliner has the intermittent led issue and you’re a few thousand miles away. I am a bit of whiz with a soldering station. Any particular tips or advice for swapping the leds? I’ve sourced some 30 mA leds, got my liquid flux, deoxit, solder sucker etc. Is there an easy way to tell the flow direction for the led so I don’t put them the wrong way around?

Absolutely, can’t fault them.

I understand a little of the basics of ohms and impedance but I wanted to clarify something to make sure I don’t melt my amp or cab. I’m getting a GB Streamliner 900 which is 900w at 4ohm or 500w at 8ohm with two speakon outputs. The minimum load is 4 ohm. I am also getting a Peavey VB810 which can run at 4 ohm or as dual 410s at 8 ohms each. I get that I run one cable out of the amp to the cab to get the “full” 4 ohm load when running as 810 but can I run a cable from each of the amp outputs to the cab to run it as 2 x 410 ? I’ve looked at the Streamliner manual online and it doesn’t make it clear whether each output is actually separate or not but I’m assuming it’s not as there’s no option for bridged and it says 900w at 4 ohms, 500w at 8 ohms not 2 x 900 at 4 ohms and 2 x 500w at 8 ohms. So would running the cab as 2 x 410 with a separate cable from each amp output be 900w at 4 ohms with the watts split between both outputs? Is this safe for both the amp and cab and if so any advantages and disadvantages to running as 2 x 410 as opposed to 810? Please excuse my lack of knowledge....

I was fitting a new set of Ernie Ball .50 - 105 Slinky cobalt flat wounds to my Warwick when the G string failed as I was tensioning it to tune. It scared the bejesus out of my as it’s my first string failure. I thought it had slipped off the peg but It had snapped about 2 cm from the start of the silk at the tuner end. I know there were issues with EB strings a few years ago but has anyone else had anything similar recently? I contact EB UK and a chap called Danny is going to send out a new set for me without my asking and not even a quibble so excellent customer service from the company. This may just be an isolated manufacturing fault given the millions of strings EB must produce in a year and it hasn’t put me off the cobalt flats as they sound so near a round wound for a flat.

+1 for the Pinegrove Leather strap. Super comfortable and personalised with the band name, real proper craftsmanship .

So I have decided to go with a Genz Streamliner 900 that a fellow BCer was advertising on here and hopefully NAD will be a week today. I think that will give me the tone I’m looking for. Thanks again for everyone’s advice.

See now I’ve started looking at Ampeg SVTs......a 4 or a 7.....worth the hype or an expensive can of woe and misery? Should I reign in the GAS and stick with the LH or is there something else around the 800-1000w, maximum of £600 new or used I should go for? Finger style only for rock and pop. Got to be reliable. My head says the LH1000 and have change for a large 800-1000w cab maybe 611 or 810 to get most out of it but then I look at the Genzs, Mesas, Ampeg and the like and think blow the lot on a more expensive used amp. I’ve loved the sound of a Blackstar Unity 500 combo I had and I could get a new Unity 700 Elite head for the money but it’s not been on the market long so is it reliable??? I want classic rock grunt but able to clean it up a little for a bit of pop. My TC BH500 to me has the best of both worlds with the tube tone and I get the TC watts v. real watts argument hence wanting something with the possibility of a bit more oomph but I do like the sound of it. Apart from TC who is closest to that sort of tone brand wise? I am open to any suggestions or advice...

Thanks for the information.

I’ve seen a LH1000 that comes with a Hydrive 410 cab for a couple hundred £ more. I have TC BC410, BC210 and BC212 cabs plus 115 and 210 hand built with some Emminence drivers. Is the Hydrive worth the extra money or would a combination of what I have work just as well?

I’m looking for something that is rock solid, on a budget, able to manage most gigs and doesn’t need loads of fiddling to get my sound. It sounds like the LH1000 is the way forward. So to clarify, the EQ cut as opposed to cut/boost?

If I double my budget I can get a a new Peavey Headliner 1000 or a used GK MB 800. Are either of those worth the extra money over the LH1000? I don’t tend to EQ much on the amp as I prefer to run the amp EQ flat and tone shape with the bass and pedals